During the time Meowth was sending people back, Vane and the others weren't idle either.
He held Monet with one hand, Monet held Lena, and the three of them entered a transparent state to steal from the Celestial Dragons' treasure vaults.
Their targets had long been decided. The three of them definitely couldn't transport gold coins, so this trip was mainly to secure Devil Fruits first.
"Let's go to the Donquixote Family first."
The Donquixote Family—Doflamingo's family. Because of the choice Doflamingo's father made years ago, their reputation in Mary Geoise had declined. Over the years, their influence had weakened considerably.
With the location provided by Garlos, Vane quickly found one of the Donquixote Family's vaults. Just like before, there was no Seastone defense.
After entering the vault, they also didn't find any Den Den Mushi for surveillance.
"They've gotten too lax. It's just that no one ever thought of doing this. Otherwise, not many Celestial Dragons outside Pangaea Castle would still be alive."
Killing a Celestial Dragon brings no benefit to any organization, which is why these guys live so comfortably.
This vault was somewhat smaller than the previous one, and he only found a single chest that might contain a Devil Fruit.
One was enough. Other places wouldn't refresh Devil Fruits this frequently.
After Monet identified it, this Devil Fruit was the Rust-Rust Fruit of the Paramecia type.
Vane had some impression of this fruit—it was the one that corroded Zoro's blade.
It works extremely well on people and objects, especially metal. Overall, it's quite a solid Paramecia-type Devil Fruit.
"Maybe we could let Caesar Clown eat this… but it feels a bit wasteful. Better think it over carefully."
In Vane's view, Caesar Clown didn't need to eat any Devil Fruit. Even if he did, it would probably be wasted—he hardly goes onto the battlefield anyway.
After storing the Rust-Rust Fruit and the ice crystal shard item it provided, Vane and the others immediately left for other vault locations.
...
Beneath the Red Line, five coated ships that had been prepared in advance had long been waiting.
The largest among them was the Thunder Fortress.
Two pirate ships, and two former slave transport ships.
Although the slave ships looked about the same size as the pirate ships, due to their different internal structures, they could carry twice as many people as the two pirate ships.
"Hurry, hurry! Everyone, assign yourselves to ships. Each vessel needs someone capable in charge!"
Dragonite brought Meowth to this sea area. The three Boa sisters were tactfully arranged by Tesoro onto the Thunder Fortress, with the ship doctor Martha assigned to calm them.
The others were distributed across the five ships. The humans were managed under Moria's control.
The Fish-Man were directed by Tiger and likewise split among the five ships.
Eight hundred people across five ships—there was still plenty of unused capacity.
After setting everyone down, Meowth climbed back onto Dragonite's back.
In an instant, Dragonite accelerated from completely stationary to several hundred kilometers per hour.
...
Zoan Dog-Dog Fruit, Mastiff Model.
Zoan Lizard-Lizard Fruit, Frilled Lizard Model.
Zoan Ox-Ox Fruit, Giraffe Model.
Vane had practically stumbled upon a "Kaido" among the Celestial Dragons—three Devil Fruits, all Zoan types, including the Giraffe Fruit that had "ruined" Kaku's natural talent.
"Though the fruits themselves are a bit underwhelming, at least there are three at once."
The Mastiff Model isn't bad among ordinary Zoans—far better than Dalmatian.
The Frilled Lizard Fruit seems to carry some poisonous traits.
As for the Giraffe Fruit… Vane couldn't really judge it. One could only say Kaku's awakening elevated it; in truth, it's just an ordinary giraffe.
Unfortunately, giraffes don't get protagonist treatment.
"These three fruits will go to some of the lower-ranking crew members."
They definitely can't go to Kaku—that would just waste his personal talent.
After putting the three fruits away, Vane's total harvest of Devil Fruits tonight had reached six.
If he were to rank them, they could be divided into god-tier fruits, first-tier fruits, second-tier fruits, and third-tier fruits.
The Door-Door Fruit sits between god-tier and first-tier.
The Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Ankylosaurus Model, belongs to first-tier.
The Rust-Rust Fruit, in his view, is second-tier, but with first-tier potential.
The three ordinary Zoans belong to third-tier fruits—hard to develop and heavily dependent on the user's physical talent.
Moreover, all three animals were ones Vane had already triggered before, meaning he could only obtain energy items for Charizard and Gyarados, plus another Ditto.
The Ox-Ox Fruit really is the most frequently appearing ordinary animal—bison, cow, rhinoceros, giraffe… for some reason Oda classifies giraffes within the bovine family.
Vane didn't continue. Estimating Dragonite's speed, he chose to return to the original prison.
Sure enough, not long after he returned, Dragonite came back carrying Meowth.
This time, Vane still didn't immediately bring the giant Mogan along. He only removed Mogan's restraints.
Then he took Meowth to gather slaves from other locations.
The other holding sites were much smaller—some had only a few dozen people. The "quality" of the slaves had also clearly declined.
There were many children, women, and Vane even found two Merfolk—beautiful mermaid ladies.
At first, Vane wondered whether he could somehow recruit Koala, but after thinking it over carefully, he realized that didn't make sense.
She probably wasn't a slave in Mary Geoise. Tiger rescued the Fish-Man in 1507, while she was sent home in 1510.
So it's more likely that after Tiger formed the Sun Pirates, he encountered her while cracking down on other Fish-Man and slave trades.
After a busy stretch, Vane had killed over seventy guards, executed more than forty slaves who had been completely brainwashed, and rescued over five hundred others. This batch truly had a large number of children and women.
Including the previous eight hundred, the total number of slaves in Mary Geoise was roughly between thirteen and fourteen hundred.
If that slave road had already been completed, it alone would require over a thousand slaves just to pull it.
There might still be some imprisoned elsewhere by the Celestial Dragons. Those people were simply too unlucky—Vane couldn't find them. There was nothing he could do.
"Meowth, go bring the giant. Send them down the Red Line."
This wave would send the slaves down first. When they came back up, it would be for transporting the treasure.